I have been painting rectangles in colors for over 30 years—grids of multilayered rectangles, however similar to others in the image, each a different color, enough to create a dynamic between them. The eye seeks for structure and patterns among contiguous or distant rectangles… but does not find definition of landscape, figure or object. After a while, it keeps looking, engaged purely in visual experience. Confounding, playful, contemplative.

The art history references are compelling: The rectangle has been the dominant format for painting for 800 plus years. It is central to modern art, even for those that seek to bust the edges or reinvent painting. The rectangle rules, in or out of the canvas, as in painting, color reigns. 

In any case, what is important is the process for each viewer of seeking the pattern, recognition, making a meaning out of what one sees, and the validation, emotional reaction, and/or self-knowledge that comes from that.

They were called Magic Squares in deference to Paul Klee’s famous works. In a nod to Alfred Stieglitz’ images of clouds, they are called Equivalents. Rothko meets Paul Klee, Agnes Martin with color. It is of course a bit presumptuous to associate one’s work with these artists. Their answers and your solution to the Problem of the Rectangle may be different than mine. It may be that my imagination is limited. I prefer to interpret that I see boundless opportunity in areas suggested by others that were not necessarily explored in sufficient depth or the same way I choose to, and at the end of the day where I can show you something different.

These rectangles provide grist for the mind to seek meaning in the different patterns it assembles. But these relationships seem to be in a state of constant change. Art World, Real World, Internal World and Neurological World all overlay each other. Indeed, “Who does ever see clearly?” We seek transparency and order, but opaqueness and change are ever present. The interaction between relationships is the only constant. The message seems to be the World is more complicated than we know, and these images are a window to allow each viewer to refine a personal interpretation of their own space within it.